New Orleans quarterback Drew Brees has thrown for an NFL-record 5,087 yards – and he still has another 300 yards in his future (at home versus Carolina on Sunday).

New England quarterback Tom Brady has hoisted a team handicapped by the league’s worst defense up on his shoulders and carried it to an AFC-leading 12 wins in 15 games – including a seven-game winning streak heading into Sunday’s regular-season finale with Buffalo at Gillette Stadium.

And the 2011 league MVP award should go to neither one of them.

The 2011 league MVP trophy belongs in Mr. Rodgers’ neighborhood.

With last Sunday night’s career-high five-touchdown performance against the Chicago Bears behind a makeshift line (Brady knows that feeling), Aaron Rodgers helped the Packers secure the top seed in the NFC playoffs, making his game with the Detroit Lions in Green Bay as significant as their preseason opener with Cleveland back on Aug. 13.

In another “Brett Who?” campaign, Rodgers has set single-season records for a legendary franchise with 4,643 yards passing and 45 touchdowns while throwing just six interceptions.

Posting 13 games with a quarterback rating of 100-plus along the way, Rodgers boasts an overall rating of 122.5 that exceeds Peyton Manning’s league-record 121.1 with Indianapolis in 2004.

Rodgers brings an added element to his game, adding 257 yards rushing, 4.3 per carry, with three TDs.

All of this while burdened by a defense that isn’t dead last in the NFL only because the Patriots are in the league.

During his first of two MVP campaigns, that magical 2007 regular season, Brady threw for 4,806 yards and 50 TDs with eight interceptions, compiling a passer rating of 117.2 in a year in which the Patriots’ offense made the scoreboard look like a pinball machine.

Now, Brees’ supporters will point to the fact that he broke a 27-year-old league record that was held by a Hall of Fame quarterback (Miami’s Dan Marino).

As anyone who watched him perform in the Saints’ 45-16 romp over Atlanta in New Orleans on Monday night can attest, Brees is making it look easy in “The Big Easy.”

Brady’s supporters will point to the fact that he hasn’t broken under the pressure of having to constantly put up points to overcome a defense that cannot prevent them while running an offense whose running game is modest at best (ranked 19th in the league).

As anyone who’s seen the Patriots play for any length of time this season can attest, Brady (whose career-high 4,897 yards exceeds Rodgers’ 4,643 and have him within shouting distance of Brees) is bringing hope to a team that is utterly defenseless.

With their teams still playing for playoff-seeding purposes, Brees and Brady will no doubt improve their numbers this Sunday; in Rodgers’ case, what you see may very well be what you’ve got.

Page 2 of 2 - Still, Rodgers’ 45-to-6 TD-to-interception ratio – a ratio that blows awa Brees’ 41-to-13 and Brady’s 36-to-11; heck, it’s even better than Brady’s 50-to-8 in 2007 – for a team that will lead the NFL in regular-season wins with either 14 or 15 cannot be overlooked.

In any other year, a season like Brees’ and Brady’s would be cause for them to be dusting off their mantels; not this year.